'Automation rate' misleads: dev argues for cost-per-successful-resolution as the AI support ROI metric
Informal-Dust4499 · reddit · 2026-10-02
A developer questions using "automation rate" to measure AI customer support agent ROI: an AI "handling" 70% of conversations says little — did it send a response, did the customer stop replying, or was the issue actually resolved? A customer reopening a ticket 6 hours later still counts as successful automation on most dashboards.
He argues for cost per successful resolution (total support cost / successfully resolved issues), with AI conversations calculated separately (AI cost + human escalation cost / successful AI-assisted resolutions) and a repeat-contact time window.
Second-order effects worth tracking: response times, 24/7 availability, reduced hiring, fewer repetitive tickets, escalation and reopen rates, CSAT.
He also distinguishes fundamentally different savings models: copilot mode (AI drafts, human reviews — saves agent time) vs fully autonomous mode (removes most marginal labor cost), and asks what metrics teams in production actually use.
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